


The Pokedex Project

by Lady_Eowyn_of_Ithilien



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-24 01:43:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12002310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Eowyn_of_Ithilien/pseuds/Lady_Eowyn_of_Ithilien
Summary: Her only goal was to rescue her father and brother from the sinister clutches of Team Galra.  So how was it that she’d gotten roped into this insane pokedex project by Professor Coran?  At least she’d get her very own pokemon out of it.





	1. Chapter One

 

Rubbing a hand over her tired eyes, she replayed the video again. It had been burned into the back of her eyelids by now, but there was always the slim hope she’d see something she’d missed the first hundred times.

 

The room where her father and brother were held was nondescript. Its only defining feature was the large banner against the back wall. Five savage points in lurid purple against a black field.

 

Team Galra.

 

A voice modulator distorted the voice behind the camera. His words were curt and concise, not revealing anything about himself. _“… after you have located your husband’s research, you will deliver it to the agreed upon location. If you alert the authorities or the Garrison…”_

“Turn that thing off,” came her mother’s harsh voice from the doorway.

 

Startled, Katie abruptly shut off the video. She whirled around in her chair.

 

Her mother’s face was pale and taut from stress.  “Promise me, that you won’t go looking for Dad and Matt during this mission for Professor Coran. Team Galra is too dangerous. If we just wait for their next instructions, no harm will come to your father and brother.”

 

Katie gritted her teeth. “How can you trust that they won’t hurt Dad and Matt? Team Galra are criminals!”

 

Her mother sighed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have let you help Professor Coran. You arranged it all before your father and brother… I thought it’d be a way to get your mind off everything, but—“

 

“Mom—“ Katie protested.

 

Colleen Holt walked further into Katie’s bedroom, looking from the clothes hanging from the drying rack and over to Katie’s half packed backpack on the bed. “Why aren’t you finished packing?”

 

Leaning over her desk, Katie unplugged her computer and started packing up her computer, tablet, and external hard drive. Katie called over her shoulder, “I just finished washing my clothes last night. I haven’t had a chance to pack them away.”

 

“You need to be at Professor Coran’s lab in Altea by one o’clock!”

 

Katie shrugged. “It’s only nine o’clock. I have plenty of time.”

 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you? I don’t mind.”

 

Katie shook her head with a smile. “And put you six hours out of your way? It would be three hours there and three hours back. I’ve driven with you to Altea a hundred times.”

 

When she turned around, she saw that her mother had begun folding up her clean clothes and packing them into her backpack. “Did you ever find that laundry detergent for traveling that I was telling you about? It’s great for hand washing--”

 

“Mom,” Katie protested, “if I need to do laundry, I’ll go to a laundromat. Besides, I bet hostels have laundry facilities. A lot of people go on pokemon walk-a-bouts after during the summer. They’d need to do laundry too. I’ll be fine.”

 

Her mother looked like she was going to say something; however, she was stopped by the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. Tucking her laptop charger into her bag, Katie looked out the window through the blinds.

 

“It’s Iverson,” she hissed to her mother, drawing them closed.

 

“Commander Iverson?” her mother gasped, rolling up one of Katie’s black shirts and tucking it into the side of her bag. “You don’t think he knows? Didn’t you say that you wiped the security footage?”

 

“Why else would he be here?” Katie wondered, tucking the external hard drive into her bag. Then came the sound of two motorcycles pulling into the driveway behind the car.

 

Katie had broken into the Garrison last week at the behest of Team Galra. She downloaded a copy of her father’s research onto an external hard drive before erasing it completely from the Garrison’s server. That was all part of Team Galra’s instructions. What her father had been working on was so interesting to them that they wanted to have the only copy of it.

 

What Team Galra didn’t know was that Katie had made a second copy of the research for herself. Not only that, but she’d embedded a virus in the data so that she would be able to trace the computer that opened the files in the external hard drive that she’d given Team Galra. Her mother had handed off the external hard drive to Team Galra through a cold drop just last night. Katie had been monitoring with bated breath, but the files hadn’t been opened yet. For all she knew, Team Galra hadn’t even picked up the external hard drive from the cold drop yet.

 

Her mother bit her nails. “If Commander Iverson discovers what happened to Sam and Matt, they’ll be as good as dead. Team Galra said--”

 

“Then he can’t find out,” Katie agreed, putting the strap of her laptop bag over her head. The strap hung across her chest with the bag at her right hip. “Keep Commander Iverson busy. I’ll head over Professor Coran’s lab. There’s no reason for them to suspect you had anything to do with the break. You don’t know anything about what I did. Dad and Matt are still on their research assignment.”

 

Her mother pulled her into a tight hug. Katie closed her eyes as she rested her head against her mom’s shoulder. She tightened her arms around her, taking in the clean soft scent of home from her mother’s light green dress. “Be careful, Katie. I love you.”

 

“I love you too, mom.”

 

“I couldn’t bear to lose you too,” her mother whispered.

 

“I’ll be careful,” Katie promised, feeling her eyes brimming with tears.

 

Throwing on her green windbreaker over her white shirt and jean shorts, Katie snuck down the stairs behind her mother. She tucked the last two shirts into the top of her backpack and zipping it up as she hurried towards the attached garage. Once Katie was safely out of sight, her mother opened the front door to welcome Commander Iverson.

 

“Manning, what do I owe the pleasure?”

 

“Colleen, it’s good to see you. Is your daughter, Katherine, home?”

 

Katie closed the door into the garage quietly behind her. She walked quietly over to the garage doors and placed her backpack down in front of it. Standing between the doors where she wouldn’t be seen through the line of windows along the top, she angled her head to look towards the vehicles in the driveway: two Garrison motorcycles, a mustard yellow pickup truck, and Commander Iverson’s car.

 

A heavy-set man with dark haired young man got out of the pickup truck seat, while two dark haired young men stepped off their motorcycles.

 

Iverson hadn’t come alone.

 

Katie cursed, crouching down behind the garage doors as the three dark haired young men walked towards the garage. She glanced up as they peered through the garage windows. Luckily, she was just out of their line of sight. She followed their gaze across the garage to her mother’s car on one side and then to her gleaming blue vespa on the other.

 

“Well that’s probably her vespa, so it’s likely she’s nearby,” said the first guy.

 

“Hunk, doesn’t this feel like overkill?” whined the second guy. “She’s not some genius savant – she’s like fourteen.”

 

“Seventeen,” the first guy corrected. “She’s only two years younger than the three of us. Well two years younger than Keith and I. You’re birthday’s not until next month, Lance.”

 

“Thanks for the clarification, Hunk,” quipped the second guy.

 

“We need to hurry,” came a new voice, the third guy. “We probably only have minutes before Iverson’s done taking to them.”

 

The gutters creaked. Then was the sound of feet against the wall and then on the roof of the garage above her. One of the windows to her room let out onto the roof above the garage. She never would have thought to climb in and out of her bedroom that way.

 

“I can parkour just as good as Keith can,” whined the second guy. Lance, the second guy was named Lance. “It’s just because he’s quieter about it that—“

 

“Shh,” whispered the first guy. The first guy’s name was Hunk. “You’re making more noise than Keith and he’s the one on the roof.”

 

“What I don’t understand,” continued Lance in a quieter voice, “is how a seventeen year old girl was able to hack into the Garrison network and steal top secret information.”

 

“Well she’s Professor Holt’s daughter isn’t she?” said the guy named Hunk nonchalantly.

 

The third guy swung down from the roof to land lightly in front of the garage. The light tread of his feet on the roof and then on the driveway was the only indication of his movement.

 

“Her window was locked and the blinds were down. I couldn’t leave the note. Should we come back tomorrow?” hissed the guy named Keith.

 

“That’s our best option,” agreed Hunk.

 

Pulling her knees up to her chest, Katie rested her head on her knees. They’d prepared a note for her to read. That must have meant they expected that she wouldn’t be leaving with Commander Iverson in handcuffs.

 

What did they want?

 

“Shiro’s in trouble, I just know it,” Keith, growled. “The Garrison won’t do anything, but I won’t stand by. We need to see what she knows.”

 

Biting her lip, she opened her bag quietly and pulled out her computer. She tapped her fingers against the keyboard impatiently as she waited for it to boot up. It took only a moment to connect into the house’s SmartHome settings and make her way through the security protocol. With a sigh, she connected to the floodlights above the garage door.

 

“What’s that?” wondered the second guy, Lance.

 

“Is it a code?” wondered the third one, Keith. “Do you think that’s…”

 

“Today. 5pm. Altea Pokemon Gym,” said the first guy, Hunk with bated breath. “Morse Code. Smart girl. She’d probably monitoring the house security cameras.”

 

“What are you guys doing out of the car?” came Commander Iverson’s gruff voice from near the front door.

 

“Stretching our legs, Commander,” Lance answered quickly. It sounded like an excuse even to Katie’s ears and she was hidden behind the garage door.

 

“Any luck?” wondered Keith.

 

“A fool’s errand after all.” Commander Iverson grunted. “A horrible waste of talent if you ask me. Katherine Holt would make an excellent recruit for the Garrison. Her mother said that she has no interest in applying for next year’s class. The family’s too stubborn to understand the value of a Garrison education.”

 

“Sir,” interrupted Hunk. “Professor Holt’s on the Garrison’s staff. Surely that demonstrates how much he values a Garrison education.”

 

Commander Iverson huffed. “Both Professor Holt and his son are graduates of the University of Altea. Katherine plans to apply there next year rather than at the Garrison. From her score on the trainer’s licensing exam, she shows real aptitude for pokemon battling. Such a waste of talent.”

 

Katie closed her computer. How did Commander Iverson know what she scored on her trainer’s exam? She’d taken the written exam only last week to get her trainer’s license so that she could own a pokemon. Did the Garrison have access to the scores of everyone who took the exam or just a select few?

 

Lance said wryly, “Not to mention the discounted tuition that she’d get at the Garrison because her father’s a professor. U of A is hella expensive.”

 

Commander Iverson growled. “Professor Holt may be an expert in the engineering field, but he’s one of the weakest pokemon trainers I’ve ever seen. I doubt his son, Matt, is much better.”

 

Katie gritted her teeth. It was a cruel assessment of her father and Matt’s talents; though, considering their current predicament it was fairly accurate. If they were great pokemon battlers, could they have avoided capture by Team Galra? Matt had caught his Voltorb during his sophomore year. Her father was a genius with electric type pokemon -- his Magnemite was devoted to him.

 

Hunk cleared his throat, “Um, The University of Altea does have one of the best engineering programs in the world.”

 

“Garrison’s engineering program is second only to U of A,” Keith countered.

 

Commander Iverson snapped, “Enough. I don’t want to hear your opinions about the University of Altea’s academic programs.”

 

“Yes, sir,” said Lance.

 

“Sorry, sir,” said Hunk.

 

“Hmph,” said Keith.


	2. Chapter Two

Looking out the rearview mirror of his pickup truck, Hunk bit his bottom lip. The red minivan behind him was following way too close. Getting tailgated in the city was one thing, but getting tailgated on the highway at seventy miles per hour was another matter entirely! He waited until he’d passed the car in the right line before putting on his signal and moving over to let the red minivan behind him pass. Once over, he was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

 

“Can’t you go any faster, Hunk?” whined Lance from the passenger’s seat.

 

“Vee!” Lance’s eevee murmured. The pokemon had been making rough purrs for the last hour or so as Lance ran his hands through her soft fur.

 

“I’m going the speed limit,” Hunk protested.

 

“At this rate it’ll be two o’clock before we get to Professor Coran’s lab,” muttered Keith from the backseat.

 

Hunk glanced up at the highway sign in front of him.

 

**Route 11 North - Altea           Route 66 East - Daibazzal**

**Keep Left                                         Exit Right**

 

Hunk checked his blind spot before moving to the left to stay on Route 11.

 

Hunk looked up into the rearview mirror at their classmate in the back row. He’d assumed that Keith had just been sleeping because Keith’s eyes had been closed. In retrospect, it was probably more like that Keith had been awake and just ignoring the two of them in the front seat. The three of them had left their backpacks in the backseat and Keith was using his as a pillow. Lance’s and Keith’s motorcycles were tied down in the back of the bed of the pickup.

 

“Hey, it’s Hunk’s truck!” Lance shouted, immediately jumping to his defense. “He can drive as slow as he damn pleases!”

 

“Vee!” agreed Lance’s eevee.

 

“You were just saying that he was driving too slow,” Keith pointed out.

“It’s a happy coincidence that Katherine Holt wants to meet up in Altea tomorrow if we’re already driving up there today,” Hunk said to change the subject.

 

“Yeah! And it’s good that you were with us, Hunk. I know that me or Keith wouldn’t have been able to get her message.” Lance beamed back.

 

“Speak for yourself,” Keith muttered from the backseat.

 

“Oh, can you read Morse Code now, Keith?” growled Lance as he turned around in his seat to glare at Keith.

 

“I would have figured out the message,” Keith snapped. “I noticed that the lights were flashing too. It would have just taken me a little longer than Hunk.”

 

Out of the corner of his eye, Hunk read the sign on the right side of the highway listing out the distance to their destination

 

**Altea – 40 m**

**Daibazaal – 125 m**

**Nalquod – 260 m**

 

“Shiro’s our friend too,” Lance snapped back.

 

“We have a better chance of finding him if we work together,” Hunk added.

 

“Yeah!” Lance continued. “And if we work together, we can stop you from doing something stupid, Keith! Like hiking up Mount Arus _looking_ for Team Galra!”

 

Keith threw up his hands. “You _told_ me Commander Iverson heard about reports of Team Galra at Mount Arus! That’s the only other lead we’ve got!”

 

“ _Katherine Holt_ is the best lead we’ve got. After we talk to her, we can go to Mount Arus.”

 

“You are just going to get in my way. After we talk to Katherine Holt, I’m going to look for Shiro on my own. I don’t need your help. I don’t want your help.”

 

“It’s like talking to a brick wall,” Lance muttered to Hunk.

 

Lance and Keith had his argument ten times already and it’d only been five days since they’d started working together. Shiro went missing two weeks ago while working with Professor Holt. They’d tried to question Professor Holt directly but discovered from his secretary that there had been no word from Professor Holt either. The Garrison didn’t think there was a cause for concern. Professor Holt got so caught up in his research that he often forgot to check-in with the Garrison.

 

A week later Professor Holt’s daughter broke into the Garrison to download her father’s research from their servers. Hunk doubted that was a coincidence.

 

It had been Lance’s idea to use Commander Iverson as an introduction. Lance worked part-time during the semester in the recruiting office with him. Lance’d looked up Katherine in the Garrison’s database and found that she had a perfect score on the written licensing exam. The Commander was always looking for new recruits, so Lance had been able to talk him into taking them on a field trip to meet Katherine Holt. After all, maybe three of the Garrison’s current students could help persuade her to apply next year.

 

Hunk shivered. “Do you really think it could be Team Galra?”

 

“Who else could it be?” Keith snarled.

 

“Hey, don’t worry about it, buddy,” Lance murmured. “We’ll be careful.”

 

He knew that they would be careful, but Team Galra was dangerous. They were a shadowy organization that had amassed a tremendous amount of power. They had no qualms in resorting to extortion, kidnapping, or murder to get their way. Hunk was scared. He wanted to help find Shiro, but he didn’t want to cross Team Galra. He hoped that when they spoke with Katherine Holt she might have an explanation other than Team Galra.

 

“You’ll just run at the first show of trouble,” Keith growled back at Lance.

 

“No, we won’t,” Lance growled back. “We’re not afraid to fight!”

 

“Forty miles to go,” Hunk said to break up the sniping between his two passengers. His stomach growled in response. “Uh, would it be alright if we stopped for lunch on the way?”

 

“You just said that we’re forty miles away,” Keith deadpanned. “Can’t you wait until after we get to Professor Coran’s lab?”

 

“Look, the next rest stop’s in seven miles! We can stop there,” Lance announced ignoring Keith in the backseat.

 

Keith sighed and leaned his head back against the headrest closing his eyes. “This has been the longest two hours of my life.”

 

Lance snorted. “Drama queen.”

 

In the rearview mirror, Hunk saw Keith merely rolled his eyes in response.

 

Lance and Keith continued to gripe at each other as Hunk merged into the right lane to get off at the rest stop. Spotting an open spot near the front door to the complex, he drove over and parked his trunk.

 

Route 11 was a heavily traveled road, so there was always a crowd in the rest stops along the route. The one they had stopped at was very nice. The immense brick building looked new, like it had been built within the last five to ten years.

 

Lance settled Eevee onto his shoulders as he climbed out of the front seat of the truck and closed the door. Lance chatted happily with Eevee on the quick walk to the front of the complex. “Look, there’s a Vrepit Sal’s here. Let’s get lunch there,” Lance called over his shoulder to them.

 

Hunk stretched with a groan. Traffic had been so bad that he hadn’t been able to use cruise control at all. Not only was he stiff from driving for the last two hours, but the sound of that name also caused a pulsing ache to begin to form behind his eyes. Hunk spent every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday night washing dishes at the Vrepit Sal’s in Garrison Point to earn money for books and food for school. Why would he drive three hours out of his way to go to another Vrepit Sal’s!

 

A sign in lurid purple by the entrance caught his attention. He read it out loud with interest: “The Quintessence. Free Lunch To Any Customers with the Franchise Owner’s Favorite Pokemon!”

 

“Free lunch?” wondered Lance.

 

“That’s what the sign says,” Hunk shrugged. “What do you guys think?”

 

“I vote free lunch,” Keith said quickly.

 

“Hm,” murmured Lance. “What do you think, Eevee? Shame to miss out on a chance to get something for free, right?”

 

“Vee!”

 

“Free lunch it is!” Lance cried out excitedly. “I bet between the three of us, one of us has to have the owner’s favorite pokemon.”

 

The front lobby of the rest stop had a gift shop on either side with memorabilia from the University of Altea for sale. The atrium gave way to a great hall with the food court in the center of it all. The various fast food joints were lined up along the wall with lines of travelers in front of them. The center of the food court was arranged with tables and chairs and booths for people to eat at.

 

There was a long line in front of The Quintessence. It seemed that other travelers wanted to try their luck to see if they had the owner’s favorite pokemon. A pair of girls with U of A sweatshirts walked past them with a dejected looking pikachu and jigglypuff.

 

“Get me a cheeseburger, Hunk,” Lance said as he patted Hunk on the shoulder and drifted over in the girl’s direction. “I’m going to try to get their numbers.”

 

“So what so you think the owner’s favorite pokemon is,” Keith wondered.

 

“From the looks of it not a pikachu or jigglypuff,” Hunk guessed.

 

Keith looked back at the girls that were cooing over Eevee on Lance’s shoulder. Hunk raised an eyebrow as one of the girls took out a pen from her purse and wrote her number on the back of Lance’s hand.

 

The line moved quickly. In the end, free lunch was a clever marketing trick because the customers had to pay before revealing their pokemon. If they had the boss’s favorite pokemon, their meal would be refunded.

 

Lance bounded up just as Hunk and Keith were handing over the money to the cashier. Lance ran his hand through eevee’s fur. “Eevee’s just a babe magnet. The girls can’t get enough of this beautiful girl.”

 

“Vee!” purred his pokemon.

 

The cashier leaning over the counter grinned at Lance as she accepted the money from Hunk. Her blue eyes sparkled through her blonde bangs as she grinned at him. “It’s a cute eevee, but not the boss’s favorite pokemon. What other pokemon do you have?”

 

Lance plucked out the other pokeball from the belt around his waist. “You are in for a treat, pretty lady.”

 

“Nido!” Lance’s nidorina proclaimed as she was released from her pokeball. Her hide was a healthy and supple periwinkle; her beauty belied by the dangerous poison spikes along her back.

 

Hunk took note of Lance’s eevee preening on Lance’s shoulder. This wouldn’t end well. Nidorina had been Lance’s first pokemon and as such she’d developed an intense sibling rivalry with Eevee. It was unfortunate timing because she’d evolved into nidorina at the same time that Lance had captured Eevee. Nidorina had become twice as tall and twice as heavy as she used to be, so she couldn’t sit in Lance’s lap or Lance’s shoulder like she used to. Now it was Eevee who could do those things. Seeing Eevee on Lance’s shoulder or in Lance’s lap always put Nidorina in a rage.

 

“Isn’t she amazing!” Lance gushed to the cashier. “Nidorina must be your boss’ favorite pokemon, right?”

 

Nidorina gazed up at her trainer adoringly. Though her smile fell when she noticed eevee perched on Lance’s shoulder. Hunk shook his head. He’d thought this would happen. “Rina,” the poison pin pokemon growled as she jumped up towards Lance’s shoulder seeking to knock Eevee off her perch.

 

“Nidorina, wait, gah--!” Lance gasped as his pokemon barreled into his chest and knocked him flat onto his back.

 

“Eve!” Eevee squealed out as she jumped out of the way and onto Hunk’s shoulders.

 

“Nido,” whined Nidorina bashfully, stepping off her trainer and nuzzling her nose against his in apology.

 

Lance sat up with a groan. “Ugh, I’m alright. You shouldn’t just apologize to me; you should apologize to Eevee too. You shouldn’t be so jealous of her. Just because she joined our team doesn’t make me love you any less. You’ll always be my special girl.”

 

Keith rolled his eyes at their antics.

 

“Do you guys have any other pokemon?” the cashier asked.

 

Keith put his hand to his waist and pulled out his two pokeballs. He glanced down at them for a moment before releasing his pokemon.

 

“Scyther!”

 

“N-e-e-eeeeh!” neighed his ponyta.

 

“Oh, your ponyta is beautiful!” the cashier gushed excitedly as she leaned back from the counter and clapped her hands together. “That’s my favorite pokemon, but not the boss’s favorite.”

 

Ponyta’s hooves clicked against the tile floor as she walked over to her trainer’s side. Keith patted a hand against her neck, unafraid of the fire horse pokemon’s flaming mane. Keith’s pokemon were loyal, skilled, and well behaved. Though they didn’t have the same ‘obsessive’ – Keith’s word – devotion to Keith that Lance’s pokemon had towards Lance.

 

The cashier sighed dreamily as she watched the pokemon. Her cheeks warmed with a blush as she whispered, “It’s amazing that ponyta doesn’t burn people it trusts. Amazing.”

 

Lance rubbed Nidorina between her ears and straightened with a groan. “Yeah, yeah, Keith’s amazing. Show the girl your pokemon, Hunk, so we can get this show on the road.”

 

“Eve,” Eevee whined from Hunk’s shoulder.

 

Hunk took out his two pokeballs from his belt. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Keith return Scyther and Ponyta to their pokeballs. The cashier looked back as one of her coworkers rang a bell to let her know that the entrees were ready. Her co-worker was a young man a couple years younger, with sandy brown hair and a lot of acne on his face. He put the two cheeseburgers, a chicken wrap, and three large fries on the tray in front of them.

 

Hunk released his two pokemon.

 

The cashier gasped as Hunk’s pokemon were revealed. “I don’t believe it! I’ve never actually seen one in person.” She grabbed the hand of her coworker as he put down the box of donuts on their tray next. “Josh, get Mr. Fuiji.”

 

Lance raised an eyebrow as Hunk took the box of donuts from the tray. “You’ve never seen a geodude before?”

 

“Dude? Geodude?” wondered the pokemon as he took a donut from Hunk.

 

“Hey,” Hunk credit in protest.

 

“Far-farfetch’d,” shrugged the wild duck pokemon at Hunk’s side, scratching his head with the rhubarb stalk that he held in his wing.

 

The cashier shook her head. “No, Mr. Fuiji’s favorite pokemon is farfetch’d. They’re really rare. Yours is amazing!”

 

“Uh, thanks,” said Hunk with wide eyes.

 

“Way to go, man!” cried Lance happily as he patted Hunk on the back. “You got us a free lunch!”

 

A middle aged man hurried out from the back of the store. He wore a black polo with the name of his restaurant across the front. It hung loose on his thin frame. It was ironic that such a slim man was the owner of a restaurant that specialized in hamburgers, French fries, and donuts.

 

“Josh said that one of the customers has a farfetch’d!”

 

The customers behind them in line groaned in disappointment. Only trainers with farfetch’d would be eligible for the free lunch. Some of the trainers that had hoped for a free lunch wandered over to one of the other fast food joints.

 

After they received a refund for their pre-purchased meal, the owner carried their tray over to the table for them. Lance and Keith ate their hamburger and wrap with thinly veiled curiosity as the owner of the store crouched down in front of Hunk’s farfetch’d to learn all about the wild duck pokemon.

 

“A farfetch’d, huh,” Lance murmured as he held up a French fry for Nidorina who sat in the booth next to him. Eevee sat on the table eating her pokemon food off a plate. She knew better than to try to sit on Lance’s shoulder or in his lap while in Nidorina’s presence. “Who would have thought?”

 

“Dude,” agreed Hunk’s geodude as he demolished a third donut.

 

“Took the words right out of my mouth, Geodude,” agreed Lance.        

 

“Thank you so much for your generosity, Mr. Fuiji. We really appreciate it. Would you like to sit with us for a little while?”

 

Mr. Fuiji beamed. “I would be honored. Where do you catch your farfetch’d?”

 

Hunk slid deeper into the booth so that Mr Fuiji could sit next time him. His pokemon tossed his rhubarb onto the bench and fluttering up next to his trainer. Farfetch’d closed its eyes and cooed as Hunk scratched a favorite a spot near the joint of his left wing.

 

Hunk looked up from his pokemon. “There was a flock of farfetch’d near where I’m from. This particular farfetch’d was an adventurer, always wanting to try new things. Not only that, but he’s a gourmand like myself.”

 

“He carries a rhubarb instead of a leek,” noted Mr. Fuiji. “Why’s that?”

 

Hunk shrugged. “His favorite food is strawberry rhubarb pie, so he likes to have one with him if the inspiration strikes me.”

 

“Amazing,” breathed Mr. Fuiji.


	3. Chapter Three

Katie and her family lived in the city of Garrison Point. Though calling Garrison Point a city was too generous in her opinion. The main employer in town was Garrison Academy – the premier military university, as everyone in town was so proud to point out. The Holts moved to Garrison Point from Altea when Katie was just starting her sophomore year of high school. Her father had gotten a position at The Garrison Academy as the Dean of their Engineering Department.

 

It had been a tough move. The fact that Matt was starting college in the fall and would be staying in Altea while the rest of the family moved to Garrison Point made it all the more difficult. Katie felt very out of place in her new school. She was more interested in block chain than block parties.

 

Though she would be leaving the nest next year too. Thank God! She planned to follow Matt to the University of Altea. Matt was majoring in mechanical engineering. She wanted to major in electrical and computer engineering.

 

Katie’d only just gotten her driver’s license in the spring, but she’d been in the back seat of her mom’s car on the drive from Garrison Point to Altea dozens of times. However, the drive was not as easy as she’d expected. When she finally saw the towering white spires of Professor Coran’s laboratory from the highway, she felt like a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders.

 

Professor Coran was the foremost authority on anthrozoology. His research mainly concerned the relationships between humans and pokemon. Any pokemon breeder worth their salt had a copy of his How to Speak Pokemon: The Psychology of the Human Pokemon Bond on their bookshelf.  

 

She hoped that her time at Professor Coran’s lab wouldn’t take too long. It was already three o’clock and she was supposed to meet Hunk, Keith, and Lance at five o’clock at the Pokemon Gym in downtown Altea. She hadn’t expected it to take so long to get to lab. Her mom had been right about the traffic.

 

About an hour into her drive to Altea, she finally realized what it was the three boys wanted to talk about. She felt stupid that it’d taken so long, but she’d been preoccupied with thoughts of the Garrison and Team Galra that she hadn’t had time for a spare thought.

           

The one that had parkoured onto her roof had said ‘Shiro’s in trouble.’ That hadn’t meant anything to her at first. She didn’t know anyone named Shiro. When she was in the middle of a daydream about her brother’s friend Takashi it finally clicked. Wasn’t Takashi’s last name Shiro-something? These guys were from the Garrison. Maybe they were friends of his.

 

Matt had mentioned that Takashi was going to be helping them with the research project for a couple weeks during the summer. She’d even tried contacting Takashi after her father and brother disappeared. He hadn’t responded to any of her messages. Maybe Takashi had been captured with her father and brother.

 

Biting her bottom lip, she raised her fist to knock on the front door of Professor Coran’s laboratory. It opened before her raised hand could connect with it. She raised her eyebrows as the door swung open. Both Professor Coran and the large eyed, blue-skinned, grey-shelled pokemon on his shoulder stared down at her. “Ah, number five. You’re late.”

 

“Vul!” added the other pokemon at his feet.

 

His vulpix was beautiful creature with a glossy coat. The pokemon’s crimson fur was startling similar to that of her trainer, though Professor Coran’s own bright red hair was streaked with grey. The other pokemon on his shoulder appeared to be a marine animal, perhaps a descendant of the extinct Omantye.

 

“Number Five?” Katie wondered.

 

He rested his hand over Katie’s head and nodded in approval. “I’ve numbered my pokedex researchers in height order. You’re number five.”

 

“You have four other pokemon trainers helping you with the pokedex?”

 

“Yes, of course,” said Professor Coran, turning around and striding back into his laboratory. “It’s too great an undertaking for just the two of us. Four pokemon trainers suited for catching some of the more dangerous pokemon on the list.”

 

Katie crossed her arms over her chest. “Then why do you need me?”

 

Professor Coran held the door to his inner lab open for her. He winked at her. “You’re a scientist, like me. This project will never work if we only have pokemon trainers! Come on, in and meet your new pokemon!”

 

Katie followed Professor Coran through the laboratory, almost tripping a couple of times when her attention was more focused on all the interesting experiments set up rather than the obstacles in her path.

 

“Omph,” she groaned as she banged her hip against one of the counters of one of the work areas. She rubbed at her hip, sure that a bruise would be forming there tomorrow. “So, why are you working on this pokedex project, Professor Coran?”

 

Professor Coran walked to the other side of a large white table in the center of the room. He leaned over it to grin at her. His eyes shone with excitement as he explained, “We’re going to be sequencing the genome of each species of pokemon! Imagine all of the questions that this will answer! What similarities are there between species? What genetic markers are still unlocked in their DNA? Why do certain pokemon need evolutionary stones to evolve and others can do naturally?”

 

“Sequencing the genome,” murmured Katie. “Amazing.”

 

Professor Coran disappeared from sight for a moment before reappearing with a case in his hand. “Here. These are special pokeballs to aid you in the project. When you capture a pokemon, it will take a small sample of its DNA.”

 

“Oh, like a biopsy. Cool.”

 

Professor nodded, tapping his nose. “Exactly. The pokeballs are specially created to anesthetize the pokemon for a couple hours while the sample is collected. It’s painless. The pokemon won’t remember a thing. Professor Honerva actually developed these pokeballs for the project.”

 

Katie gasped in awe as she accepted the case of pokeballs. Professor Honerva was a famous researcher from Daibazzal University. Her specialty was biomedical engineering. Katie unlocked the case to look inside. It was deceptively deep. Inset into the grey foam was a red device. When she lifted up the insert, she saw twenty-five black pokeballs with cyan lids laid out into five rows of five. It was smart to color-code them to make it easier to tell which pokeballs were normal pokeballs and which were for the project.

 

Professor Coran crossed his arms over his chest. “These pokeballs aren’t meant for holding pokemon permanently. Collect the sample and then release the pokemon from the ball. It takes about thirty minutes for the sample to be collected.”

 

Professor Coran took out a red device out from the case. “This is my proto-pokedex. It connects to the hundred special pokeballs in the case. It’ll keep track of the species that you capture and let you know if it was able to collect a useable biopsy. Each ball can only hold one sample so don’t reuse balls. I’ve designed them to prevent that, but you never know. If the biopsy isn’t useable, you’ll have to recapture the pokemon or capture another one of the same species to ensure that we get a useable sample.”

 

Professor Coran handed her back the proto-pokedex and then walked around to the other side of the large white table. “You must be excited to meet your pokemon!”

 

Closing the case, she chased after Professor Coran. “What pokemon do you have for me?”

 

Professor Coran pressed a button under the tabletop and grinned at her. “The pokemon will choose you. You’re the fourth to arrive, so the last two pokemon will have to decide amongst themselves.”

 

A stand came up from within the tabletop that had five slots to hold five pokeballs. In front of each slot was a gleaming jewel – an evolutionary stone. Three of the slots were empty. A thunderstone and a moonstone were lined up in front of the two remaining pokeballs.

 

“The evolutionary stone’s to help you with the pokedex. As you know some pokemon only evolve through evolutionary stones,” Professor Coran added as he ran two fingers along his mustache. “Oh, should have mentioned. If a pokemon evolves, I’ll want a new sample to see if the pokemon’s DNA changed as a result.   If you have a sample of the same pokemon before and after the evolution that would be ideal, but not necessary.”

 

Katie nodded, starting to feel overwhelmed. How was she supposed to catch so many pokemon? She didn’t even know how she’d manage to get the first one. Professor Coran threw up his arms and proclaimed loudly to the two pokeballs, “So, which one of you wants Katie Holt as his trainer?” He stage whispered to Katie. “They’re both male pokemon.”

 

The pokeball in front of the thunderstone burst open in a beam of light. A yellow furred pokemon bounded off the table and into Katie’s surprised arms. Pikachu rubbed his head into her white t-shirt, its lightening bolt tail wrapping around her back. Katie twitched as static from pikachu’s tiny body shot through her.

 

“Ah, so you want Katie as your trainer, pikachu.”

 

“Pika!” it said brightly.

 

“Pikachu is inquisitive and headstrong. You’ll have your hands full with him.”

 

“Chu,” the pokemon snorted in derision.

 

“I’ll also give you this thunderstone. If you wish, you can use it to evolve pikachu into a raichu when you are both ready. The stone actually worked out the best for you, number five. The other pokemon that I selected for the other four trainers don’t evolve with evolutionary stones.”

 

“Lucky me,” Katie deadpanned.

 

Professor Coran chuckled. “You’ll do splendidly. You’re off to a better start than number two, the second tallest of the trainers. He hasn’t even shown up yet.”

 

Katie looked over at the yet unclaimed pokeball and moonstone. “Who’s he?”

 

Professor Coran scratched his head. “What was his name?”

 

“Vul,” said his pokemon. “Vul-pix.”

 

“Oh, that’s right. Takashi Shirogane.”

 

Katie glanced back at the last pokeball on the counter. She smiled disarmingly at Professor Coran. “Oh, I know Shiro. He’s working on a research project with my father. I could deliver his pokedex to him if you’d like.”

 

Professor Coran cheered. “Number five! You’re giving number three some serious competition for the position of my favorite trainer.”


End file.
